Effects of the distant population density on spatial patterns of demographic dynamics

Spatiotemporal patterns of population changes within and across countries have various implications. Different geographical, demographic and econo-societal factors seem to contribute to migratory decisions made by individual inhabitants. Focussing on internal (i.e., domestic) migration, we ask whether individuals may take into account the information on the population density in distant locations to make migratory decisions. We analyse population census data in Japan recorded with a high spatial resolution (i.e., cells of size 500 m $\times$ 500 m) for the entirety of the country and simulate demographic dynamics induced by the gravity model and its variants. We show that, in the census data, the population growth rate in a cell is positively correlated with the population density in nearby cells up to a radius of 20 km as well as that of the focal cell. The ordinary gravity model does not capture this empirical observation. We then show that the empirical observation is better accounted for by extensions of the gravity model such that individuals are assumed to perceive the attractiveness, approximated by the population density, of the source or destination cell of migration as the spatial average over a radius of $\approx 1$ km.Comment: 22 figures, 2 tables, fixed an incorrect publication yea

Win-stay lose-shift strategy in formation changes in football

Managerial decision making is likely to be a dominant determinant of performance of teams in team sports. Here we use Japanese and German football data to investigate correlates between temporal patterns of formation changes across matches and match results. We found that individual teams and managers both showed win-stay lose-shift behavior, a type of reinforcement learning. In other words, they tended to stick to the current formation after a win and switch to a different formation after a loss. In addition, formation changes did not statistically improve the results of succeeding matches.The results indicate that a swift implementation of a new formation in the win-stay lose-shift manner may not be a successful managerial rule of thumb.Comment: 7 figures, 11 table

Population changes in residential clusters in Japan

Population dynamics in urban and rural areas are different. Understanding factors that contribute to local population changes has various socioeconomic and political implications. In the present study, we use population census data in Japan to examine contributors to the population growth of residential clusters between years 2005 and 2010. The data set covers the entirety of Japan and has a high spatial resolution of 500$\times$500$\textrm{m}^2$, enabling us to examine population dynamics in various parts of the country (urban and rural) using statistical analysis. We found that, in addition to the area, population density, and age, the shape of the cluster and the spatial distribution of inhabitants within the cluster are significantly related to the population growth rate of a residential cluster. Specifically, the population tends to grow if the cluster is "round" shaped (given the area) and the population is concentrate near the center rather than periphery of the cluster.Comment: 3 figures, 4 table

Thurston compactifications of spaces of stability conditions on curves

In this paper, we construct a compactification of the space of Bridgeland stability conditions on a smooth projective curve, as an analogue of Thurston compactifications in Teichm\"uller theory. In the case of elliptic curves, we compare our results with the classical one of the torus via homological mirror symmetry and give the Nielsen-Thurston classification of autoequivalences using the compactification. Furthermore, we observe an interesting phenomenon in the case of the projective line.Comment: 27 page

Metabolism of Zearalenone in the Course of Beer Fermentation

Zearalenone (ZON) is a mycotoxin with estrogenic activity, produced by members of Fusarium species, and is found worldwide in a number of cereal crops. It is known to have four active metabolites (α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), β-zearalenol (β-ZOL), α-zearalanol (α-ZAL), and β-zearalanol (β-ZAL)). A highly sensitive analytical method using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization (LC-ESI-MS/MS) has been established and validated in order to analyze ZON and its metabolites in beer and malt samples. The metabolism of ZON in the course of beer fermentation was further characterized using the artificially contaminated wort by this established method. In the fermented sample, 85.9% of ZON was converted to β-ZOL, which has lower estrogenic activity than that of ZON. These findings indicate that the health risk to humans due to ZON in beer is reduced during the fermentation process

Chiral Effects in Astrophysics and Cosmology

The microscopic quantum nature of elementary particles, chirality, leads to macroscopic phenomena like the chiral anomaly, chiral magnetic effect, and chiral plasma instability. We review recent progress of the studies of these chiral effects in high-energy astrophysics, such as pulsar kicks, magnetars, and core-collapse supernovae, and early Universe cosmology, such as the primordial magnetic field, baryogenesis, and chiral gravitational waves. We also provide a pedagogical introduction to the chiral effects and low-energy effective theories to describe them in and out of equilibrium -- the chiral (magneto)hydrodynamics, chiral kinetic theory, and chiral radiation transport theory for neutrinos.Comment: 73 pages, 4 figure